Parent and child emotion and distress responses associated with parental accommodation of child anxiety symptoms

Abstract

Objective: Parental accommodation contributes to the maintenance of child anxiety and related symptoms. The current study examines the contributions of parent and child factors to parental accommodation in a sample of anxious youth. Methods: Sixty-four treatment-seeking youth (6-16 years) and their mothers, as well as a subset of fathers (N = 41) reported on parental accommodation, parental distress and emotion regulation, child psychopathology, child externalizing behaviors, and child intolerance of uncertainty. Results: Parental accommodation was not related to parental distress or emotion regulation. Parents who viewed their child as being more symptomatic (e.g., anxious, externalizing, and intolerant of uncertainty) were more likely to engage in accommodation. For mothers, child anxiety and externalizing symptoms were notable predictors of accommodation. Conclusions: Parent perceptions of child symptomology is an important factor significantly related to accommodation behaviors. This finding can be used to inform programming designed to target parental responses to child anxiety and related disorders. K E Y W O R D S accommodation, anxiety, family, pediatric

Bidirectional Relationship Between Family Accommodation and Youth Anxiety During Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment

“…Parental anxiety has also been found to be associated with youth anxiety [21], and may thus be an important confounding factor explaining the directional relationship between family accommodation and youth anxiety. However, other studies have not found an association between parental distress and family accommodation [12,43]. Thus, it is uncertain to what degree the findings in the present study are confounded by changes in parent mental health.…”

The use of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) in addressing family accommodation (FA) for child anxiety

“…Recent research has suggested that it may not be parental distress per se that influences FA but parental perceptions of child anxiety symptoms. O'Connor et al (2020) reported that contrary to expectations and not in line with other studies, FA was not linked to parental distress or emotional regulatory difficulties in the sample of parents of anxious children. Instead, findings indicated that maternal perception of child distress was more influential in determining the level of FA.…”

Frequency and Correlates of Fathers' Accommodation in Pediatric Anxiety Disorders

“…When examining parent-related clinical correlates, our results on fathers indicated that fathers who rated themselves as more anxious were also more likely to engage in higher levels of accommodation, including modification of family routines and to report negative child consequences, such as temper tantrums, when they did not accommodate. Although our findings on fathers are in line with our hypothesis, they are also at odds with the findings of a recent study that did not find a significant association between fathers' anxiety symptoms and fathers' overall accommodation in a smaller sample of 41 fathers [41]. In contrast to fathers, our results on mothers indicated that mothers' overall accommodation, including participation, modification, distress, and consequences, was not related to mothers' self-reported anxiety symptoms.…”